Camp Kampê
by ninjagal2000
Summary: The things that keep children awake at night. The things that keep demigods always looking over their shoulder. They're cruel, evil, bloodthirsty-monsters. You know what they are. Everyone does. But what if... What if everyone is wrong?
1. Chapter 1

Camp Kampê

_The things that keep children awake at night. The things that keep demigods always looking over their shoulder. They're cruel, evil, bloodthirsty-monsters. You know what they are. Everyone does. But what if... What if everyone is wrong?_

The sun's light reflected off the choppy surface of the lake. Everywhere there were kids swimming and riding on boats and tubing.

Brian smiled mischievously as he was pulled by a speedboat. He had only gotten to camp a few days ago, but he was already loving it. He noticed they were passing Mary's boat. She was just on a slow pontoon, and she was smiling and talking with some girls with slightly blue skin.

He called her name until she looked over, then he started kneeling on his tube and made an "L" with his fingers, staring at her deviously.

Mary glared, and dived off her boat.

Instantly she was swimming under the water, keeping pace with the tube with her powerful fin.

"Ssssssssssslow," Brian hissed sarcastically, sticking out his snake tongue.

She laughed under the water and flicked her fin faster, catching up to the speedboat and jumping onto the deck.

"Quit showing off, Mary," the boy driving said. His dark hair was flying back with the high winds, showing off his deep brown eye.

She groaned. "It's not my fault he was being mean, Mike!" she defended jokingly. She shook her blonde hair out of her eyes, which matched the color of the ocean on a starry night. It was a stark contrast between the rest of her; the color setting her apart from humans and demigods. That and her sea-green mermaid tail, of course. But she could make those into legs if she felt like it.

"Plus," she smiled with playful rudeness, "I love tormenting snakes."

With that, she jumped back out of the boat and swam underneath Brian's tube. She waited just a moment, then shot out, flipping his tube over.

He came back up sputtering and shouting "Mary! I was doing good!"

She laughed hilariously at him. When she controlled herself, she helped him stay afloat as some of the other monsters gathered in their boats, smiling.

"A basilisk can't stay here five days, can he?" One of the water naiads Mary had been talking to joked, popping her head out of the water.

"He can, but he better get used to being treated like a member of the family," an empousa said.

"Hey, this is camp! Everybody's family, mostly," Mary countered.

"Well, not all of us are children of Echidna."

"I know. I'm not her daughter! But I am family," Mary smiled, looking at everyone.

"Dinner!" Mike shouted, slowing the boat down to pick Brian up.

Everyone moaned a little, but turned back to the shore that lead to the lush forest encompassing Camp Kampê.

Inside the camp's boundaries were all sorts of monsters that would make even the great Percy Jackson tremble in his boots. Hellhounds ranging from the size of a poodle to twice a human played fetch with the "vamps" of camp: empousa, lamia, and mormo. Harpies darted around in the trees, followed closely by smaller dragons who agilely avoided branches. Cychreides, the biggest dragon at Camp, flew above the treetops with a phoenix who stayed in the sky so often they never learned his name. They even had a siren that patrolled the depths of the lake, who never spoke to any of them out of fear she'd entrance them all, though Mary was sure the siren would get her powers under control.

Monsters may scare others, but there, they are what kept each other feeling happy and safe.

...

During dinner, everyone poked their food unwillingly. Mike ate it while trying to keep an even expression, but he gagged when he ate his pigeon. He forced a sick smile and said, "It's great."

Mary sighed. "I know, I hate it, too, guys. But-"

"I want a human!" An empousa complained loudly.

"I want a kid," a mormo muttered.

Both licked their lips.

Brian looked at his own pigeon with longing. "I want a demigod."

Instantly, all monsters stiffened and averted their eyes from Mary.

She stood and walked over to him. "What was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of me eating a disgusting animal so we aren't hunted."

He stared down at his food. He didn't know how mad she would get if you wanted demigod for dinner. "N-nothing. I sssaid I loved thissss food."

"I thought that's what you said. I personally hate demigod. How about you?"

"Dissgusssting."

"Good. I don't know about some of these guys, but I love not being in Tartarus."

"Ssso do I."

"Then you understand. Does anyone else love being aboveground?"

Everyone nodded.

"This is what it takes. It could be worse-you could be doing this on your own. This is all it takes to stay alive. Nothing more. If you aren't willing to do that, get the Hades out of this camp."

No one moved. No one spoked. Very few dared to breathe.

"No class tomorrow," Mary said lightly. "This was definitely a lesson enough, wouldn't you say?"

The mood lightened and a couple monsters smiled.

"Thanks," Brian muttered. "Sorry," he added.

"Don't worry about it. I always wanted demigod when I first got here, but you get used to pigeon."

...

"Mary," Mike said after dinner, "I think she found someone."

She was laying down on the shore of the lake, her tail replaced by human legs. The restless phoenix flew overhead, lighting up the starless night.

"It always bothered me," she said, ignoring what he had said.

"What are you talking about?"

"The sky. We never see the stars. I wonder what they look like." She turned her head up and stared into his eye.

He sighed. "Stars are just small lights in the sky. They make pictures. They're not that great, honestly.

"I know you grew up here after your mom dropped you off, but I don't understand why you care about them this much."

She looked back at the phoenix, imagining him smaller and smaller until he was just the single star against the dark night.

"The gods put people into the sky if they like them. Someday, I want to be one of those - I want to keep living on. I don't want to be forgotten."

Mike sighed. "Mary-"

"Don't bother with the 'you're thinking like a demigod' speech. Or the 'that's just a child's dream' speech. I know, I know, you're older than me."

"By a couple centuries. May you never forget it."

"Like you'd let me. Now what was that about her seeing someone?"

The spirit they were talking about was cursed, at least, in a way. She was a spirit who had escaped the Fields of Punishment, but fell into Tartarus. She stayed there, trapped for centuries before the Doors of Death opened and she was the first to escape. Tartarus left its mark in her - she can sense monsters world-wide, especially if they were near a group of demigods. She's a spirit, but no one has tried to take her back yet.

"It was my brother," Mike said with slight anxiously.

"Another cyclops? Do you know how old he is?"

"He couldn't be more than a baby, she says. Mary, we must save him! You must save him! I think... Well, she believes he is at the camp."

Her eyes widened, and she sat up and stared at him. "You don't mean the camp, do you?"

He nodded gravely. "Please, do not let my brother die. He is ignorant and will be killed before he understands he is being attacked."

"We will come to him as we have the others. A dream. If he says that he is willing to join us, then we'll help him, of course. If not... He seals his own fate."

He looked at the ground with his single brown eye.

"Hey, don't look so gloomy. If he really is a kid, he'll love to come with us, or at least you."

"Do you think he sleeps? Will you call?"

Mary stood and walked over to the water. She aged as fast a human and was actually the youngest monster there; only 17 years old. However, she picked up on powers. The dream trick was what she discovered when she was talking to some dolphins off the shore of Florida, trying to get a monster to come to Camp. He refused and was most probably killed.

She touched her hand and used sonar to reach his mind, hoping he was asleep. He was.

"Hello. My name's Mary. Do you know where you are?"

"I'm with pony-man and my brother in my dad's cabin," the cyclops said, not at all phased that someone was talking to him in his dream.

She looked at the cyclops questioningly. Mike was right - he couldn't be very old at all. He was just a little thing with the cutest wide eye.

"Okay then... I think you're in danger where you are. You're a monster, and monsters don't get along well with demigods."

"Oh no, my brother won't let them hurt me."

Mary, slightly confused, wondered why the spirit hadn't sensed the cyclops' brother. Now two cyclops were in danger. "I don't know how long he can protect you. Why don't you come to the water away from Camp and I'll pick you and your brother up and take you here!"

"Where is there?"

"This is Camp Kampê, camp of monsters. We try to teach monsters to avoid demigods and humans. Plus we play games and meet other monsters. Last week we got a basilisk!" Mary said enthusiastically, trying to convince him to come so she could break the dream connection between them.

"I won't take my brother to a monster camp! They'll kill him!"

Now Mary was lost. "They won't hurt your brother. We welcome every kind of monster, no matter how many eyes."

"Monster? No, my brother is a demigod."

"A what?! He's - Are you insane?"

"I'm not insane. My brother helps me."

Mary sighed sadly. "What's your name, little guy?"

"Tyson."


	2. Author Advertisement

Yeah, sorry, not an actual update. For any of my stories. I'm just telling you guys to check on this story by lizmillerdaughterofzeus. My friends from school are writing a story every month, (each of us individually) and we've posted them on fanfic under her name! (She's kind of just the editor cause she doesn't like to write. Don't tell her I said that. *gets slapped* crap she's reading over my shoulder.)  
Aaaaaaanyway, check it out! It's called SSWC: Month 1. Yeah. Read it. It's good. The first topic was a picture of an archer drawing it's bow. Check it out. Yeah. K cya. It's really late that's why I'm sounding so random. I'm slap-happy enough to write Dare the Gods...

-ninja

P.S. SSWC stands for Short Story Writing Contest


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